White Room

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The White Room provides current information relating to new technologies for energy efficiency. Stay connected with the latest news, events, and scientific breakthroughs in this fast moving sector. Use our filters on the left or click here to send a suggestion for content to add.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority won a grant to install an energy storage system to capture regenerative braking energy when the subway approaches a station. Some excess energy will be stored and made available to the wholesale power market for grid services.

By the end of the year, China’s electric grid will become the largest in the world in terms of both installed generation capacity and electricity produced. Additionally, China is expected to have one of the largest energy storage capacities by 2016.

DOE will establish a research hub for batteries and energy storage at Argonne National Laboratory. This is the fourth "innovation hub" proposed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The battery hub is intended to produce revolutionary advances in batteries for electric cars and for use on the grid.

The paradigm of the "smart grid" has been embraced eagerly by everyone from staid old utilities to Silicon Valley venture capitalists, but if the electric grid is to become a smart network, the storage concept pioneered by the internet revolution will need to be emulated.

Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center has developed a new printing technology that promises to pack more energy into batteries for electric vehicles: the technology could increase battery storage capacity by 10 to 30 percent.